Kathryn Edmondson

** Sent on behalf of the UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Education Team**

UPDATE: Examiner found. Thank you to all those who inquired.

Dear Faculty Members,

We are urgently seeking a Mock OSCE examiner for our February 13th exam. The Mock OSCEs are an integral part of preparing our residents for their Royal College OSCE exams and we want to ensure the continued success for all of our residents.

We need one examiner for the morning session, 8:30am – 12:15pm, February 13, 2025.

Mock OSCE are conducted virtually through Zoom. You will receive all necessary information prior to the exam. Examiners are eligible for payment at the rate of $106.03 per hour.

If you are interested in being an examiner next Thursday, February 13th, please email Raquel Portillo Henriquez at raquel.portillo@ubc.ca.

Thank you for your help in making Mock OSCEs successful.

Regards,

Raquel Portillo Henriquez 
Senior Program Assistant, PGE
UBC Department of Psychiatry

The UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office at the UBC Vancouver Campus respectfully acknowledges the land on which we live, work and play is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh).

As the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) announced the results of its Fall 2024 project grant competition last week, we wish to congratulate our faculty member and principal investigator Dr. Brian MacVicar, along with his team, who was awarded grant funding to support his project. We would also like to congratulate faculty member Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez who is co-investigator on a project that received funding.

Lipid Nanoparticle-messenger RNA (LNP-mRNA) as a versatile therapeutic platform for brain diseases

• Principal Investigator: Brian A. MacVicar

• Co-investigators: Bernier, Louis-Philippe; Cullis, Pieter R; Lynd, Larry D; Ross, Colin J; Tremblay, Sébastien; Weilinger, Nicholas L

Brain diseases affect around 10% of Canadians, but treating them has been challenging since the brain is difficult to target with regular medicines. Exciting new technologies that carry genetic drugs, similar to those used in COVID-19 vaccines, are changing the way we think about treatments. Our team is working on a unique approach using a novel technology called lipid nanoparticle-messenger RNA (LNP-mRNA) to help heal the brain from within. Decades of research in neuroscience have shown that many brain diseases occur because the brain lacks certain proteins. We believe we can fix this by giving the brain the missing proteins it needs to get better. READ MORE

Understanding the amnestic side effects of electroconvulsive shock

• Principal Investigator: Jason S. Snyder

• Co-investigator: Fidel Vila-Rodriguez

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is widely used as a therapy for mental illness, and is the most effective treatment for patients who suffer from drug-resistant depression. Unfortunately, many patients avoid ECT treatment due to its side effects on memory. Generally, patients reports difficulties remembering information learned around the time of treatment, but the duration of the impairment and the exact types of memory that are impaired remains unclear. Minimizing these side effects not only requires identification of the types of memory that are affected, but also depends upon an understanding of how ECT affects brain circuits involved in memory. READ MORE

Read the complete list of UBC Faculty of Medicine researchers who were awarded more than $26M for transformative health research.

If you are a PI who was awarded funding in the fall 2024 CIHR Competition, but was not mentioned in this post, please reach out to Megan Rollerson (megan.rollerson@ubc.ca)

**Shared on behalf of Dr. Amy Salmon, Director, Clinical Faculty Affairs, Faculty of Medicine, & Dr. Dennis Bhui, Associate Director, Clinical Faculty Affairs, Faculty of Medicine**

Greetings,

To ensure all interested applicants have sufficient time to prepare their submissions, we have extended the deadlines for the Sherrold Haddad Excellence in Medicine Award Program. The new deadlines are as follows:

• Expression of Intent (EOI) Deadline: March 3, 2025 (12:00 PM PST)
• Application Deadline: April 5, 2025

The UBC Faculty of Medicine is excited to launch this call for applications, which aims to support up to one clinician who holds a faculty position in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC and performs clinical duties (full-time or fee-for-service) at one or more of the following institutions: Surrey Memorial Hospital, Czorny Alzheimer Centre, or Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre. This award provides essential salary buy-out funding and research support, enabling recipients to dedicate more time to research aligned with Surrey Hospitals Foundation’s pillars of support.

Full details on the funding opportunity can be viewed in the 2025 SHEM Award Call and at the Sherrold Haddad Excellence in Medicine Award Program. page

Submission Process:

• Expression of Intent (EOI) Deadline: March 3, 2025 (12:00 PM PST) – Submit via the EOI submission portal
• Application Deadline: April 5, 2025

Please feel free to reach out to me at corne.duplessis@ubc.ca if you have any questions or concerns.

Best,

Corné du Plessis, Ph.D.
Strategic Programs Officer
UBC Faculty of Medicine | Office of Research

The UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office respectfully acknowledges the land on which we live, work and play is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh).